The male dominated trade unions were openly against organizing women. They believed that women were a threat to their jobs, because they were willing to work for lower wages than men. They also believed that women working eroded the family structure. Unions like the National Typographical Union actively tried to keep women out of their trade, though women had worked as printers since colonial times.
Women's rights movements developed from the anti-slavery movement, and was, at first, mainly interested in allowing women to have access to higher education and the professions. However, some activists such as Caroline Dall, wrote about emancipation of working class women. In her book, Women's Right to Labor, she addresses the myths of women as being weak, and stresses that women should be better paid for their labor.
In 1860, in Lynn, Massachusetts, lower wages in the shoe making industry caused labor unrest. Clara Brown, a 21 year old factory worker attempted to form an alliance between the factory shoe binders and the women homeworkers by trying to get more wages and better working conditions for both groups. However, the homeworkers aligned themselves with the men, who saw their shoe-making jobs as an artisan tradition, and considered the women factory workers as a threat to their jobs and the tradition. The male labor leaders failed to see the inevitably of industrialization and did not realize that allying themselves with the female factory workers could help their cause. They continued to cling to the notion that the woman's only place we in the home. The alienated women workers did not join the strike, and the strike failed.
Sources:
America's Working Women, "Women's Strikes". pg 68-69, "Union Men Against Women Workers". pg 77-78, "A Feminist View". pg 78-79
Photo:http://www.ourwardfamily.com/1800s/SPINNING_ROOM__COTTON_MILL.JPG
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